Fugazi Dave

So I went downtown on my bike today to run some errands. On the way home, I go east on Chicago ave and get on the bike path. Things are peachy until I get up to that big building up just south of the North Ave pedestrian bridge. There's a contractor's truck parked just off the path to the right. I could see pretty well on both sides of the truck, and didn't see aynone, so I figured I'm fine just going past. Oops. Just as I get to the back of the truck, a high school kid pulls out onto the path right in front of me. We both tried to avoid it, slowed down etc, but the space of ten feet really is only enough time to say "oh shît" to yourself and realize that you're going to crash. I hit him perpendicularly, my front end versus his. Upon impact, I do a flying endo, he spins around and wipes out. I land on my head, then my left side. Got a little road rash on my left elbow, and I will likely have a spectacular chain-shaped bruise on my left hip later tonight or tomorrow. When I hit the ground it knocked ALL of the wind out of me, and so for the first minute or so after the crash as people are starting to accumulate around the scene, I'm sort of squirming around grunting on the ground trying to reinflate my lungs.

His front wheel is totally and completely pretzled. He had to bend it back some just to get it out of the fork. I grimace and look at my bike.....and see nothing is wrong. Oddly enough, it turns out to bein better shape than it was before in two ways. First of all, there was a space of about 3/32" below the bottom headset race that I just couldn't get it to seat on - it wouldn't go down all the way. The crash seated it for me. Second, my front wheel is now less out of true than it was before the crash. Go figure. Nothing bent or cracked on my bike, not even any new missing paint.

So yeah....that's today's crash. We got his front wheel good enough to ride home on, so that was cool. I told him a few places to go to look for cheap front wheels. Now I'm sitting here drinking gatorade and waiting for the Aleve to kick in. Everything hurts, and the crash was maybe 45 min ago. Tomorrow I think I'll hardly be able to move. Impact soreness sucks.

amstr

Were you wearing a helmet? I keep forgetting to wear mine, but hearing stories like this reminds me that I should wear one at all times, even when I'm just cruising to the corner store to buy more beer.

Glad you weren't seriously hurt. Hope you feel better.

Fugazi Dave

Yeah....that's the other thing about this crash. Reminded me yet again why I wear a helmet. I use it too much to ride without it.

al5

good to hear you're OK.. funny - i was heading south on the path at about 12:15, and just south of the chess-players I came very close to a crash myself. 2 people were walking south on the wrong side of the path (i love that, they better have a left-hand-drive car in the garage...) and some guy passed them at the same time i was passing someone in my lane. i had to take my left hand off to avoid his high bars, then we brushed arms/shoulders/etc. couple more inches and i'd be having some aleave with you. bad times.

skitbraviking

Damn, FD. You have some lousey bike luck.

May the Aleve do it's job.

Post pics of the road rash on the owie thread?

Fugazi Dave

Once the bruise shows itself in full effect (it's already starting to turn), I'll be sure to post a pic.

timmhaan

hey FD, how many crashes have you had this year?

Fugazi Dave

Let's see....in no particular order

1. Hit that Ford Explorer
2. Wiped out at the Cutting Crew
3. Today's crash
3.5 Got bumped by two taxis last week
5. Got forced off the path and into the grass where I tumbled by morons a few weeks back

I'm thinking there's a few more I'm forgetting.

jfmckenna

Glad to hear you are ok.

Now I must say I laughed. The part that was funny is having people stare at you when you feel like you are dieng because you lost your breath I know the feeling, soory I laughed.

Hey on a good note you got your bike fixed for nuthin

get well soon.

HereNT

Glad to hear you're okay and it's only 5 so far this year for you. I've already lost count - luckily most have just been solo 'oops' style things... So far nothing involving other bikes or (knocks on wood) cars.

timmhaan

i've had 3 in the past year. i think i'm doing pretty well so far. of course, now that i say that, i'll probably crash tonight...it is raining.

absntr

Glad to hear you're relatively okay - a huge reason why I avoid the path during crowded hours, if at all. The one time I rode the path last year, a fellow cyclist crashed into me and bent my fork back. Got a new one as a result at Urban Bikes though.

nocoins

oh man Fugazi Dave... feel better.

I still have some arthritis in my knee from my last crash with a careless motorist. rest up and feel better. you will be back to crashing in no time.

Guest

Couldn't you have found a better way to fix your bike?



Seriously, though. Sorry to hear about that. But I would definitely contact the City and also if you know who the contractor is, I would contact them too. They really do cause problems with the path, between parking/driving ON the path, to obstructing the path itself by parking in such a manner that riders and pedestrians cannot see what is on the other side of the trucks. Perhaps if more people complained, they would be more likely to not use the path as their personal parking lot and/or their personal road. I am tired of it myself, and if I were you, I'd definitely call the people responsible for the truck and let them know what you're going through right now. The liability alone should be enough for them to consider taking some action.

Glad to see you're ok through all this. Me personally, I'd be p*ssed off... big time.

Koffee

p3ntuprage

the last time that type sqirming on the ground wind knocked out of me thing happened, someone asked if i was ok. i said yes and she continued on her way, because i thought i was.

it took me about five minutes, a text message and a grocery store transaction to realise that i couldn't move my right arm [it turned out i'd broken my shoulder]

good to hear nothing's broken.

fsnl
sparky

Fugazi Dave

The bruise on my hip at crash + six hours. This one is going to mature nicely.

jfmckenna

Ice the hell out of it...

brokenrobot

So, last time I crashed (maybe a month ago?) I remembered somebody here's advice and bought some arnica cream... sure enough, my contusions healed up MUCH faster than usual. Worth a shot!

-chris

skitbraviking

Oh, lots of pretty colors.

crustedfish

You will never see me on that damn path for that exact reason.

I'd rather surf the Boyz Town Cabbies at 2:00AM on a Saturday, or Mich Saturday afternoon, or Rush Street at 11PM on a Friday.

catatonic

nice battle scar man.

I'm gonna have some good ones in a few weeks. Friday some jacktard was yakking on his cellphone and managed to run me off the road...fortunately he was kind enough to pull over and had a mini first-aid kit in his glovebox, so the wound didnt get infected.

The guy was pretty cool and he seemed to honestly care (as well as totally clueless on road laws for cyclists) so I dropped the whole thing. I made sure he understood the laws cyclists have to follow so he would be sure to be especially attentive when in the right lanes, just to avoid future problems. Hopefully he will drop his cellphone usage while driving...prefrably to zero.

What happened was my chainring cut into my inner ankle I have about 4 small cuts where the chainring went in. Wasn't too bad, I rode my limping and bandaged self to work and back right after.

...on another note dominos pizza sucks...they screwed up my entire order tonight...both pizzas had sausage instead of bacon, and they gave me sprite instead of coke...and the delivery guy tried to tell me the order said sprite.....sometimes I wish I had a roman candle and a camcorder...

WithNail

"and the delivery guy tried to tell me the order said sprite"

It Probably did say sprite and it was probably the guy on the phone who effed the order up. . . Sorry I used to be a delivery guy. I guess i'm still a little defensive about those things.

kurremkarm

It's these stories that made me start wearing my helmet again.

catatonic

the order printed on the box said coke...that was the one he "read" to me. I know sometimes delivery guys get scewed up orders...but having an entire order screwed up is ridiculous....I can't even figure out the odds...it was like they were trying to mess it up. Oh well, I'm getting my pizzas from another place in theneighborhood from now on...this is about the 5th time in 4 months they screwed up my order...and it's not hard, thin crust, bacon and extra cheese, and two 2-liters of coke.....I've ordered the exact thing everytime for years...you would think they would know this by heart now...oh well...I think it was the delivery guy looking right at the box label with the order on it, and saying it said sprite that made me more angry than anything. Either way, that specific dominos is on my banned list now...along with the TK noodle here, but the rant on that place needs it's own thread.

Fugazi Dave

Um yeah.....it's progressed quite well in the last day.

I give you the Kryptonite bruise at crash + ~one day.